We Can Still Be Friends
by Ian-the-Existential-Crisis
Summary: When Bakugou ignores how colorful the world looks after passing the archery club, destiny forces him to see someone who seems familiar. But who is Izuku?


There is always a brief moment when destiny, fate, whatever the fuck they called it kicked in. And in that moment, time slowed almost to a stop, the world became colorful, and the only things that could be heard were the chirping birds, the beat of his own heart, and the sudden this or the arrow that embedded itself in the center of the target.

Bakugou couldn't say what made him look over in that moment. He had passed the archery club many times on his team's daily runs. But his red eyes wandered over.

In that moment, everything stopped. But at the same time, everything had just begun. Sure it didn't make sense. Bakugou blamed the high summer sun for beating down on him. It was making his head go all weird. Or maybe it was that iffy bottle of water his redheaded friend, Kirishima, had given him before they started running.

Whatever it was, it made his body move against his will. Stupid body!

He couldn't help it. He moved close enough to grab the chain link fence. There was another this and his heart fluttered. The sound of the string snapping into place made him actually look at the archer.

He was thin, short, with childishly big green eyes, and wild green hair to match. He felt familiar but Bakugou couldn't place it. He was probably just imagining things. But looking at this guy made his heart flutter. Damn, why did the sky look so bright?

His fingers tightened around the chain. He could hear the string being pulled back again. Those intoxicating green eyes calm and unwavering.

"Bakugou?" He felt a hand on his shoulder.

The spell was broken. Colors no longer flooded his senses. The faint noise of the arrow hitting the target didn't faze him. His red eyes easily pulled away from the archery club member.

"What?" He barked.

"Woah, easy there." It was Kirishima. Of course it was Kirishima who had ruined that moment. He held up his tanned hands, as if they would grant him any protection from Bakugou's next verbal onslaught. "You just kind of stopped. I didn't realize you liked to watch them."

"No really." He grumbled.

"Nah man, it's cool. I like to stop and watch them too sometimes. It's serene and totally different from basketball." Kirishima smiled like an idiot.

"Whatever." Bakugou huffed with a stretch of his leg before starting on his way again. "They just caught me off guard."

And so had that moment. Too bright, too fluffy, almost like something out of those stupid romance movies. Whatever. This was real life. That moment meant nothing. It was a delusion. The heat had gotten to him. It was nothing more. It couldn't be.

.

Practice hadn't even started yet and Bakugou had made his was to the gym, well the locker room. He practically threw on his black shorts and blue shirt. He liked to start before the others. Get a few laps around the court in, make sure all the balls had air in them, the usual stuff. He however, did not enjoy that he wasn't the first person there. He also didn't want to join their conversation, so he opted to listen from just inside the door of the male changing room

"What should we do? With Sero being out we won't have our star shooting guard." Iida said to Uraraka.

Honestly, Bakugou didn't care. But if the captain thought it was necessary to tell the manager, he knew he shouldn't voice his opinion.

They had plenty of starry-eyed first years that would love a shot at playing in more than low-tier practice matches. And with most of the third years dropping the team to focus on entry exams, this was really a second year problem.

"Couldn't we just ask a first year?" The Brown haired manager asked. She held the clipboard, with all the potential shooting guards close to her chest.

"I'd rather have someone with more experience. This is an important game for our school." Iida frowned.

Blah, blah, blah. Rivals this, have to win that. Bakugou just wanted to crush the opposing team. He didn't care if this school and that one were rivals. He didn't care if a win meant the break of a twelve year losing streak. This wasn't some crappy sports manga.

"We could always ask Todoroki if it's that important." Uraraka pointed out.

Who was he again? Bakugou could barely remember him. The name sounded slightly familiar. It kinda pissed him off.

"I don't think he would help us. Isn't he in the archery club now?" The glasses wear male said.

Did the captain keep tabs on all the club members that had left?

Bakugou thought on it for a second before his eyes widened with realization. Todoroki was kinda famous. His father was a huge basketball star and everyone had expected him to follow in those footsteps. What nobody saw coming was Todoroki just vanishing from the court for such a plain sport.

Weakling. So what if he couldn't surpass his old man. He didn't have to run away from the whole sport just to spite the guy. Giving up made him weak and because of that Bakugou was glad he probably won't join the team even for one match. He wouldn't welcome a quitter.

"Shall we send Bakugou and Kirishima then?"

Wait what? Bakugou had been so lost in his own thoughts that he missed what lead up to that. They had to be idiots thinking that he could recruit anyone. Especially some lame quitter that he could already tell he was going to hate.

"That seems like the best choice." The blue haired captain nodded.

Well, Tenya Iida just made his personal shit list. Bakugou scolded. Maybe he would just skip practice today and go home. That sounded like a better idea than what those two idiots were plotting.

"Yo, Bakugou." Well it was to late for that plan. Kirishima's voice was so loud and cheerful it would take a miracle for anyone not to bear him. His red eyes looked innocent but his timing had been too perfect to be a coincidence.

"I think I heard Kirishima." The brunette said from the gym. Of course she would be able to hear him through the door. That was Bakugou's luck after all.

"Very well. I shall inform him of what's going on."

No escape anymore. His redhead friend, who was definitely being downgraded to acquaintance after this, was chatting away next to him and the captain approached from the sounds of his sneakers hitting the linoleum flooring.

.

If he closed his eyes he could easily hear the soft thuds again. His mind would race back to this skinny arms holding the bow. Back perfectly straight, green eyes calm and steady. Three fingers drawing the string back.

He could hear the 'twish' of the arrow being released. In his mind he could see the string snap back. The arrow would fly through the air. Green eyes blinked after it hit the outer ring of the target.

"We are here to see Todoroki." Kirishima said to whoever answered his soft rap. Bakugou had been so lost in his own head he hadn't even realized the redhead had knocked on the door, or that he had stopped walking.

The purple haired girl in the doorway frowned. Her amethyst eyes glanced back to at something or someone hidden from sight. She then ran a hand through her asymmetrical bangs and with a sigh she opened the door wider.

"Listen, club activities end in a few minutes. Why don't you guys come in and wait for them to finish?"

"Them?" He hadn't meant to let it slip out.

"Vice-president Todoroki is in the middle of a challenge." She explained. "And I, for one, would rather not interrupt him."

"The archery club is really chill." Kirishima smiled. "So i don't mind hanging around for a few minutes longer. Besides, it totally beats having to run laps."

"You wouldn't gave to run laps if you and Kaminari would stop goofing off." Bakugou said, shoving past him and the girl to enter the club room.

It was weird entering the club room. It was so… open. As soon as he turned the corner from the little pocket space that was the club room door, he was hit with sunlight.

And there he was, lighting up the whole room. The green haired male. He stood, just like Bakugou had imagined, with his bow drawn.

It was too bright. Why was everything so bright? Like every stupid scene in those idiotic romance animes that he didn't really enjoy, he only watched them because Kaminari and Kirishima forced him to, just suddenly the world had color.

How had the world been so gray before? How had he not noticed?

THUNK

The arrow missed completely. The green haired boy let his head fall before raising his hand to shake the person next to him.

Todoroki. How could he have forgotten that stupid half and half hairdo? Those mismatched eyes that never held any interest when he was in the basketball club now shone.

Was that also because of this freckles person?

Upon further inspection Bakugou had noticed it. The green haired male's face was full of the little spots. Like a constellation across the pale skin.

"Izuku?" Todoroki frowned turning to the boy. "Is something wrong?"

So his name was Izuku? It wasn't too horrible. The sound of it didn't immediately piss the blonde off. In fact, he kinda liked it.

"It's nothing." He finally replied. Bakugou couldn't see his face.

But the conversation was interrupted by Kirishima, who had finished apologizing for Bakugou's rudeness. Which, in his defense, that purple haired girl opened the door to let them in, so Bakugou didn't think he was rude at all.

Izuku pushed past the vice-president and fled at the same time that the redhead waved happily. "Yo, Todoroki. It's been a while man. How are you?"

The half and half bastard gave them a pinched smile. "What can I help you with?"

Woah, talk about cold shoulder. Maybe Bakugou would get lucky and he would just straight up say no. No fighting, no begging, just a solid no. He probably knew they were from the basketball club. They had even been stupid enough to wear their jackets.

Kirishima started to talk, but like usual Bakugou tried to tune him out. He opted to, instead, listen to the purple haired chick.

"What happened?" She turned to a black haired woman.

"Izuku missed his shot." The busty black haired beauty shook her head. Bakugou recognized her. Who wouldn't? She was Momo Yaoyorozu. Not only was she the president of the archery club but she was also vice-president for the student council.

The purple haired girl looked worried. "Was it because of the racket? Should I not have let them on?"

"I'm sure it had nothing to do with that, Kyoka." Momo gave her a loving smile. "They had been at it for so long, I'm not even surprised he lost focus."

"No." Todoroki's voice overshadowed the their conversation.

"Aw, come on man. We used to be on the same team."

"Used to be. I am no longer a part of the team." He gave a curt bow. "Now if you don't mind, I have more pressing matters to attend to."

The way he shut Kirishima down kind of pissed him off. Only Bakugou was allowed to do that to his friend. He wasn't going to take it quietly.

"Listen up bastard." The blonde frowned. "We are going to keep asking until you say yes. Just give up and help us this one time. Unless you think you are so awful you can't."

He glared, hoping to rule him up. But the voice that responded didn't belong to Shouto Todoroki.

"Shouto is amazing!"

Bakugou turned around. Izuku was standing opposite of him, back in his school uniform. His green eyes watched him menacingly.

"Izuku." He time was warning the boy. Of what, Bakugou had no clue.

"Whatever nerd. We'll be back tomorrow." He turned with a hmph and grabbed Kirishima's arm. "Let's go."

.

He was back the next day, after practice had let out, alone this time. He could already hear the conversation in his head. He would insist that loser help his club. Todoroki would say no. Bakugou would probably start yelling until either the other agreed to help or they kicked him out. And if they kicked him out he would just be back the next day.

But nobody answered the door at his knock. It wasn't like they had locked it, and he could hear two soft voices talking, so he just let himself in.

"How did this happen?" Bakugou's target asked.

"It doesn't matter." That voice belonged to Izuku.

He couldn't help himself. His red eyes watched them from his mostly hidden spot just inside the doorway.

Izuku was sitting on the hard flooring, holding a towel to his arm. The sun highlighting his face in an angelic light.

Todoroki was next to him, slightly leaning down to hand him a sweating bottle of water. His eyes looked concerned. The moment the green haired teen took the water bottle his pale fingers brushed against the towel help to the other's arm.

"Is it still bleeding?"

"No." Izuku shook his head. "It's fine, really."

"You should take better care of yourself

And your bow for that matter. What if the string had snapped on your face instead? You could have lost an eye."

"I know, I was just…"

"Distracted?" Todoroki finished for him. "Is it because of that Katsuki person?"

Bakugou froze hearing his given name. Did this boy know him? How come he didn't remember?

"Kacchan doesn't matter anymore." He said quickly. "You're all I need."

Kacchan. Kacchan… Someone had called him that before. Bakugou didn't really remember who he was or what he looked like. But maybe this was that person.

Even so, this moment that he had witness felt to private. Like he shouldn't be there. He couldn't touch their world right now. So he slipped out the opened door, leaving it that way so he wouldn't ruin the intimate moment he shouldn't have seen.

His heart hurt as he left for no reason at all.

.

"I'll do it." Todoroki said the next day. He had answered the door very swiftly, his face stern as he did so. "On one condition of course."

"Awesome!" Denki Kaminari cheered nudging Kirishima with his shoulder.

"Yeah man, that's awesome. What do you need?" Kirishima smiled widely.

"Katsuki Bakugou," Todoroki turned to him. "You will not step foot in the archery club after this moment."

Oh, so he did realize that Bakugou had kept his word and showed up. Which wasn't too bad, but it was still pretty bad. Bad enough to make Bakugou's face go red as he remembered what he walked in to the day before.

"Fine." Bakugou huffed.

"What did you do?" Kaminari leaned in to ask.

"Not sure." He mumbled while Kirishima explained the schedule to the furious looking male in the doorway. His eyes never seemed to stop glaring at Bakugou even though he was actively talking to the redhead.

Kaminari seemed to accept Bakugou's answer with a smile. He then placed a hand on Eijiro's shoulder, as if to apologize for blatantly interrupting their conversation.

"Hey, is Midoriya in there? I want to see if he'll let me borrow his history notes."

Midoriya? Bakugou knew that name. No wonder Izuku didn't click in his mind. He never uses that name for that loser. That stupid crybaby.

Deku.

His Deku was here. Deku had been in the same school as him and he hadn't noticed? How? Well, he did move away just after their second year of primary school. Bakugou was heartbroken when he moved. For as much as he bullied and teased the green haired youth, he actually really liked him.

No wonder everything looked brighter. Fate or destiny or whatever had been trying to tell him. It had been trying to point him in the right direction. But he ignored it.

Not anymore.

Bakugou pushes past his friends, past his rival (He guessed, judging by the day before that was a safe assumption), and into the room.

He seemed to have a knack for coming when their activities had ended. But that was okay. Because there he was, still cleaning, taking arrows out of the form targets.

"Deku."

His head shot up. The fire that was normally in his eyes dimmed. "Kacchan."

"Why didn't you tell me you were back?"

"I didn't see the point in it." He said quietly.

"Because Todoroki is enough?"

"He was right. You were here yesterday." Deku mumbled. "I didn't think it mattered because you will never feel the same way about me as I feel about you."

"You idiot!" Bakugou yelled. "You could have at least said something. You think your so smart. You can't see inside my mind."

Deku looked at him, his starry cheeks brightened. "I, uh…"

Bakugou frowned at him. He knew. Deku was with Todoroki. Those words that his childhood friend couldn't find were ones of rejection.

"Give me your phone number." Bakugou demanded.

"Why?"

"Because we can at least be friends right?" Bakugou put out his hand.

And just like he expected, Midoriya set everything he had been holding down to grab his hand. He wrapped both if his pale callused hands around Bakugou's.

"O-of course!" He stuttered with a smile. Same stupid Deku.

That was okay though. All Bakugou had to do was win him back. Or…. Maybe he would just win over the half and half bastard too. After all, he seemed to take good care of his Deku.

Bakugou grinned. Mischief dances across his eyes. "Now, how about you get your stupid boyfriend to unbanned me from the club room? Cause I'm about to get an earful from my teammates about how important he is to the team and how I already ruined our shot at getting his help."


End file.
